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US senators probing possible links between Russia and the Trump team have been told to “follow the dead bodies” as they hunt for evidence of the Kremlin’s involvement in last year’s presidential election.

Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, national security expert Clint Watts said several Russians linked to the investigation into Kremlin disinformation activities have been killed in the past three months.

The alleged murders were carried out not only in Russia, but in western countries as well, Mr Watts said.

He also accused Donald Trump of using the same techniques employed by Russian operatives against his own political opponents.

Asked by Republican Senator James Lankford why Vladimir Putin’s supposed tactics of attempting to influence the US election were “much more engaging this time in our election”, Mr Watts replied: “I think this answer is very simple and is what no one is really saying in this room.

“The reason active measures have worked in this US election is because the commander-in-chief has used Russian active measures at times against his opponents.”

‘Active measures’ is a term used during the Cold War to describe political warfare carried out by the Russian security services to undermine a rival power.

Mr Watts, an advisor at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Programme, cited several examples of when Mr Trump had referenced false new stories about terror attacks that had in fact never taken place.

Clint Watts, right, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Program on National Security (AP)

“He has made claims about voter fraud, that President Obama is not a citizen, that Congressman [Ted] Cruz is not a citizen,” he added.

“So part of the reason these active measures work, and it does today in terms of Trump Tower being wiretapped, is because they [the Trump team] parrot the same lines.”

Mr Putin has strongly denied allegations of Russian meddling, saying today that the "endless and groundless" accusations against his administration as “nonsense”.

"Read my lips: No,” he said. For emphasis, the Russian president pronounced the last word in English.

Mr Watts said Mr Putin was technically “correct” to say he wasn’t influencing US political discourse.

“He [Mr Putin] is just putting out his stance, but until we get a firm basis on fact and fiction in our own country…we are going to have a big problem.”

Testifying on Thursday at a congressional hearing on Russian meddling, the security expert also said social media campaigns were targeting House Speaker Paul Ryan.

He suggested media campaigns waged by the those linked to the Kremlin were evidence that Russia is continuing to seek further unrest among US democratic institutions.

campaign aide, Seth Rich, was coldly assassinated at point-blank range two days after joining her election team and discovering Russia had hacked Democratic Party emails in a desperate attempt to influence the election. That’s the bombshell finding of a Radar Online investigation which reveals, for the very first time, the bloody reality behind the

in the head on Dec. 26 in the backseat of his car in Moscow. Erovinkin was a close aide to Igor Sechin, a Russian oil kingpin named in the “dirty dossier” ex-British Intelligence agent Christopher Steele built on Trump.

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated by an off-duty police officer at an art gallery in Ankara on Dec. 19.

Hours later, Russian TV network Ren TV reported a “high-ranking” Russian diplomat named Petr Polshikov, 56, was found shot in the head in his Moscow apartment.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died in New York City at the age of 64. New York City cops cited a “heart attack.”

Then, in late January, the Russian ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, died after “a brief illness” at 67.

Putin advisor Mikhail Lesin was found dead on Nov. 5, 2015, in The Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington. He had no ID although the room was in his name. Radar Online has learned he died of blunt force trauma to the head.

On Jan. 9, Andrey Malanin, the Russian consul in Athens, was found dead in his apartment. Local police discovered no evidence of a break-in.

On Nov. 8, Sergei Krivov, a 63-year-old consul duty commander at the Russian consulate in New York City, died of “blunt force trauma” to the head and was found on a consulate floor. One report stated Krivov would have been in charge of “prevention of sabotage” and suppression of “attempts of secret intrusion” i

On March 2, A Ukrainian-born American citizen with links to both a Trump adviser and Putin died mysteriously in his native country. Alex Oronov, 69, was said to have run an agricultural business, but details of his activities were ended up on the desk of ousted National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Flynn. Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. election, saying, “Watch my lips, no.”

"How many of his own people has Vladimir Putin now eliminated while trying to cover up the Trump-Russia scandal?" Were the killed diplomats the couriers carrying messages with instructions and cash between Trump and Kremlin and the potential witnesses?

FBI: Find those who are still alive, and ask them, ASAP (ASAP!) They will tell you if they want to stay alive.It looks like the major mode of communications is revealed by this circumstance: old fashioned, very simple, and reliable.

Dec 31, 2016 - "It's very important, if you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier, the old fashioned way because I'll tell you what, no computer is safe," Trumpresponded when asked about the importance of cybersecurity, according to pool reporters.

“Shifting political winds have blown criticism James Comey’s way from different partisan directions,” Sen. John McCain writes. “But his independence has never faltered.” | AP Photo

Arizona Sen. John McCain tipped his hat to FBI director James Comey in a glowing tribute for Time’s 100 Most Influential People list, labeling the bureau director as principled, independent and honorable.

“Integrity is a word that doesn’t get used a lot in Washington anymore,” McCain wrote for the feature, which was published Thursday. “But that is the quality that has defined James Comey’s service to our nation.”

Story Continued Below

Comey, who made the controversial decision to announce that the FBI would continue looking into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server 11 days before the election, and this year made waves with his testimony confirming that the FBI was probing the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, has been sharply criticized by those from both the left and right.

Many on the left have said that Comey’s October announcement into the reopening of the Clinton email investigation turned the public against Clinton and gave now-President Donald Trump a last-minute boost to win the White House. But when the FBI director testified about the bureau’s investigation into the Trump campaign, he was in turn slammed by Trump supporters for what they said was a politically motivated smear.

McCain, who has been vocal about his concern over Russia’s influence in the election, has been an ardent supporter of Comey's actions, particularly surrounding the Trump-Russia probe. In the Time column, McCain wrote that the FBI director “followed the law, spoke the truth and did what he believed was right” no matter the circumstances.

“Shifting political winds have blown criticism James Comey’s way from different partisan directions,” McCain wrote. “But his independence has never faltered. His integrity has never wavered. And I know that in the pursuit of justice, it never will.”

"In recent months, Mr. Page has often seemed to revel in the attention he has drawn. In December, he gave another speech at the New Economic School, complaining that “fake news” had hurt United States-Russia relations.

His conduct has disturbed some who know him. Mr. Guerin said it was “disheartening” to hear that Mr. Page rated his time at the margins of the Trump campaign more highly than his Navy service. “I thought we were both patriotic,” Mr. Guerin said. “I would like to assume that as well right now. But events are unfolding that make you question that.”

Last Thursday, Mr. Page appeared on “Good Morning America” for questioning by George Stephanopoulos. He seemed feisty but upbeat, denying any impropriety and complaining about “a ton of false evidence.”

Developments beyond Mr. Page’s trip may have heightened the F.B.I.’s concern about Russian meddling in the campaign. Paul Manafort, then Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, was already under criminal investigation in connection with payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. WikiLeaks and two websites later identified as Russian intelligence fronts had begun releasing emails obtained when Democratic Party servers were hacked.

When the F.B.I. opened its investigation in late July, agents were just beginning to explore whether Mr. Trump’s advisers had contacts with Russian government officials or intelligence operatives, according to the current and former American officials, who spoke about the continuing inquiry on the condition of anonymity. In the months that followed, they said, more evidence came to light, including intercepts of Russian officials discussing Mr. Page and other Trump associates.

In his talk at the New Economic School in Moscow, Mr. Page criticized American policy toward Russia in terms that echoed the position of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, declaring, “Washington and other Western capitals have impeded potential progress through their often hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change.” His remarks accorded with Mr. Trump’s positive view of the Russian president, which had prompted speculation about what Mr. Trump saw in Mr. Putin — more commonly denounced in the United States as a ruthless, anti-Western autocrat.

Mr. Page’s relationship with Mr. Trump appears to have been fleeting. According to former Trump campaign officials, the two men have never met, though Mr. Page has said he attended some meetings where Mr. Trump was present.

But last spring, when Republican foreign policy experts were distancing themselves from Mr. Trump, Mr. Page served a purpose for the flailing Trump campaign. Dismissing the notion that his campaign was bereft of foreign policy expertise, the candidate read aloud a list of five people who had offered to advise him on world affairs — including “Carter Page, Ph.D.”

Mr. Page was unknown in Washington foreign policy circles. But his doctorate and his Russian experience were real. He had worked as a junior investment banker for Merrill Lynch for a time, living in Moscow from 2004 to 2007.

He subsequently started his own investment firm, Global Energy Capital L.L.C., and partnered on some deals with a Russian businessman, Sergey Yatsenko. Mr. Yatsenko had been deputy chief financial officer for the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is majority-owned by the government and has close ties to Mr. Putin.

Mr. Page’s role in the Trump campaign appears to have been minimal. Papers he wrote on energy policy languished unread. Former campaign officials play down his significance almost to the vanishing point, saying Mr. Page had no ID badge, desk or email address from the campaign.

“If the Russians were attempting to collude with him, they were attempting to collude with someone who had no influence on the Trump campaign,” said Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump. “I think he’s a self-promoter — not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

But for Mr. Page, temporarily wearing the title of adviser to the man who would become president appears to have been gratifying. “The half year I spent on the Trump campaign meant more to me than the five years I spent in the Navy,” he said in an interview last month.

He denies that there was ever any possibility of his being recruited to spy for Russia, including his 2013 encounter with the Russian intelligence officer. “Zero risk then or ever in my life,” Mr. Page said.

After The Washington Post broke the news last week of the court warrant the F.B.I. had obtained, Mr. Page went on a Trump-like media blitz, defending his bona fides and asserting that he was the victim of a smear campaign by Obama administration officials and Hillary Clinton aides.

“You talk about fake narratives,” Mr. Page said on Fox News. “When you introduce false evidence in a court of law, including the FISA court,” he said, referring to the court that issued the warrant targeting him, “that is illegal. So, let’s see what happens.”

He added, “I’m very encouraged that all of the lies that have been a drag on this administration are finally coming out into the open.”

Few who have met Mr. Page during his career appear to have pegged him as a likely prospect for either suspected spy or statesman. Born in 1971 in Minnesota and raised in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., he graduated in 1993 from the Naval Academy, where he was in the selective Trident Scholar Program, but left the Navy before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He earned an M.B.A. at New York University and completed a doctorate a decade later at SOAS University of London.

Richard Guerin, who was in his academy class and remains in regular touch, said Mr. Page had “a complicated mind.” “He’s genuinely one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” Mr. Guerin said. “I get a bit offended when I read reports of people calling him an ‘idiot.’”

Mr. Guerin also said that, ever since Mr. Page’s Navy days, when he drove a black Mercedes, his friend had reveled in lavish spending that sometimes seemed to exceed his means.

Oksana Antonenko, a senior political counselor at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, who was friendly with Mr. Page in London while he earned his Ph.D., said, “I think he is a nice, decent and perhaps a bit naïve guy.”

While the biographical sketch Mr. Page has used highlights his work at Merrill Lynch with Gazprom and a Russian electric power conglomerate called RAO UES, he appears not to have played a leading role in major deals. He later ran an international affairs program at Bard College in New York before founding Global Energy Capital. The private equity firm operates out of a co-working space in a Manhattan high-rise that Mr. Page has described, accurately though perhaps misleadingly, as “around the corner from Trump Tower.”

American businessmen in the tight-knit expatriate community in Moscow say they did not know Mr. Page and were not familiar with his business activities in Russia. “People I deal with on my board of directors just shrug their shoulders,” Alexis Rodzianko, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said in an interview. “They’ve never heard of him.”

In April 2013, Mr. Page was caught on an F.B.I. wiretap in an investigation of suspected Russian intelligence officers in New York. Victor Podobnyy, one of three men later charged with being unregistered agents of a foreign power, had met Mr. Page at an energy symposium and was recorded describing him as “an idiot” with dreams of lucrative deals. There is no evidence that Mr. Page knew the man was an intelligence officer.

In 2014 and 2015, in articles for an online journal, Mr. Page mixed quirky observations with praise for Russia and criticism of American policy. The war in Ukraine, he wrote, was “precipitated by U.S. meddling.” And Igor Sechin, a close Putin ally and chief executive of the oil company Rosneft, Mr. Page wrote, “has done more to advance U.S.-Russian relations than any individual in or out of government from either side of the Atlantic over the past decade.”

In March of last year, Sam Clovis, an economics professor and Tea Party activist in Iowa, was asked by the Trump campaign to line up some foreign policy advisers. He produced the list that included Mr. Page.

After several tries, Mr. Page got the campaign’s permission to speak at the New Economic School, where Mr. Obama spoke in 2009. Denis Klimentov, a spokesman for the school, said some alumni knew of Mr. Page’s work at Merrill Lynch in Moscow. But his role as a Trump adviser also played into the decision to invite him, Mr. Klimentov said in an email.

“We did not arrange any meetings for Mr. Page outside of the school, and we were not aware then if he had any further meetings or contacts,” Mr. Klimentov added. “Our strong recollection is that there was simply not enough time for Mr. Page to have any meetings outside of the school.”

»TASS: Russian Politics & Diplomacy19/04/17 16:35 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story from TASS. MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The Russian Institute for Strategic Studies considers questions about it assisting the Kremlin in influencing the US presidential election to be a bad joke, the institute ...

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"At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre." Norman Mailer | "Investigate the "investigators"! I would think that no less than 50% of the problems this country is facing is due to the FBI's inadequacy. This is a very important issue and the time has come to address it." - by Michael Novakhov